Elizabeth+RestLBF

Executive Summary
The methods I used for my analysis were to look at the overall survey results, explore individual responses, then put tag(s) for each boring and fun experience. I sorted all the responses by tags and looked for patterns based on age, gender, education and context. From there, I came up with generalizations. I did not find significant patterns based on age, gender or education, but found the same elements that made an experience fun or boring were reported despite differences in age, gender and education. Learning experiences varied in context including a church function, high schools classes, formal college classes, field trips, and outdoor activities/sports. Despite the different learning settings, the experiences shared the same elements of what made them fun or boring. While many respondents reported similar elements that made an experience fun versus boring, multiple elements emerged which shows that people have different preferences and needs. For example, some respondents reported that it was fun to perform and present, others found hand-on experimenting or simulation to fun, and others preferred to be outside and moving around. These different preferences reflect the variety of learners and their different learning styles and needs.

=What Makes Learning Boring?=

=What Makes Learning Fun?=
 * 1. Respondents reported that no interaction was an element of what made their experience “boring.” ** Forty-six respondents identified that there was little or no interaction in their experience which made it “boring.” For example, Rock Monster reported that the training conference he attended had “No interaction, it was one way communication.” In her staff meeting, dNice reported a similar experience in which “I had to sit completely still, [I] did not get to interact with anyone in the room.” Scientist reported that in his undergraduate chemistry class, “Students were not encouraged to interact with the instructor or other students. No demonstrations were used to show the chemistry in action.” TOL stated that her formal university class was boring because “There was no interaction with fellow students or little class discussion. There were no visual aids or dramatization. We read the books and gave reports, but gained nothing because of the lack of interaction or opportunity to gain new insights into what had been read.” Liz also reported that her experience in a formal class was boring because “There was no interaction and no need to listen or retain the information.” These examples show that these boring experiences with no interaction range from job related meetings and training to formal classroom settings. Respondents found their experiences boring because there was no interaction with the instructor, other students, or objects or artifacts. Many reported just sitting still and being expected to listen to a lecture without discussing or interacting.
 * 2. Respondents reported that their experience was made “boring” because they already knew the information or there was nothing new presented. ** For example, Darth Sidious reported, “The content was not new. The workshop was directed to a novice audience. I was not a novice.” Since he already knew the content, he became frustrated with the experience, stating, “I hated having to attend these one-day workshops each year because I never learned anything new. It was definitely un-motivating for me, and I had a negative attitude.” Fiber One had a similar attitude during his experience, stating “Most of the material that the master instructor covered was extremely basic and within the knowledge base of the majority of the learners, so his long-winded style, combined with the basic level of the lecture made me feel bored, condescended to, and like I was wasting my time.” Jane T felt her online graduate class “was boring because the session/lecture was a content review for me since I had already read the module materials.” SpongeBob commented on her 2nd grade math class, stating, “I already knew how to do it. It was too easy. I was bored because I don't like learning stuff I already know.” A total of 16 respondents felt that experiences were boring because they already knew the material and felt like their time was being wasted. In many cases, learning was aimed at the novice, not considering that some may already know the material and find it too basic. In many of these examples, the respondents reported feeling frustrated, irritated and annoyed.
 * 3. Respondents reported that the content was boring, irrelevant, or had no practical real-world application which made their experience “boring.” ** For example, Mick16 took a continuing education class on professional designations and found the experience to be boring because, “It did not apply to my current job.” Miss Kieko took a mandatory company database training and similarly reported, “The material was boring, the presentation was boring, and I didn't see the relevance to my day-to-day job duties.” On a course to prepare for an economics class, Jeff O. reported, “It had no application to my real world. It did not tell me what I needed to specifically know for the actual course.” Trojan also reported that his college calculus class experience was boring because “the subject, the teacher, [and] the lack of relevance.” In her experience, Karina Idealist stated there was “nothing I could relate to. The Professor spoke as if the information was already familiar to the class and did not try to relate it in a way that would have relevance to real life experiences.” A total of 41 respondents ranging in age, gender and education stated that the topic was boring, irrelevant or not applicable making the overall experience boring. There experiences included job related classes, formal classes and informal classes.
 * 4. Respondents reported that the instructor’s characteristics and attitude toward the subject made their experiences “boring.” ** Seventy-one respondents reported that something about their instructors affected why they described the experience as boring. The ages of these responses varied from 11 to 83. For example, Pepe reported that in his college class, “the professor seemed to be bored or little interested in the subject.” Respondents like Linn found “the instructor was not engaging,” which made the experience boring. Many respondents reported the instructor’s monotone voice or accent made the experience boring. Angie W stated, “The instructor was not at all interesting and very monotone.” Teacher24 also stated, “The instructor was monotonous and tended to repeat.” Some respondents found the attitude or demeanor of the instructor made the experience boring. Sparty’s boring experience included “The instructor prided himself on being a PhD (which he mentioned multiple times each lecture). He made us feel inferior and therefore we tuned him out.” Emma Z felt stated that her instructor “Had a bad attitude, poorly dressed, slovenly, [and had a] monotone voice.” Finally, Bacon described her High School Biology class as boring because “The instructor had almost no public speaking skills and her grammar and speech often had mistakes which not only made the students confused, but also unwilling to listen to the lecture.” The many responses in this category detail a variety of characteristics about the instructor or instruction that made an experience boring including that the instructor was not engaging, spoke in a monotone voice, was too slowly paced, had lack of knowledge on the subject, was unenthusiastic, lacked presentation skills, or was just a bad presenter.
 * 5. Respondents who reported that lecturing and in many cases, an instructor simply reading slides, were elements that made an experience “boring.” ** For example, Michael reported that in his graduate level class, “Basically the professor just read for three straight hours from PowerPoint slides.” Regarding a software training class, Archery Noni stated “The instructor read her PowerPoint to us, she had no idea what was on it.” Jazzy J also reported that her experience with a formal class was boring because “The professor simply recited the information about each slide.” Beth O. discussed a college class as boring because “The professor's voice was monotone and he simply read each slide and elaborated on it slightly.” Many of the responses in this category relate to formal at a college or graduate level or to job related training events.


 * 1. Respondents who reported having friends and family involved in their experience made the experience “fun” where almost universally children or adolescents when the experience occurred. ** Eight of the nice respondents who reported their fun experience involved friends and family were between the ages of 6 and 15 when the experience occurred. Chocolate1 described his experience learning about muscle endurance as fun “Because I got to enjoy the learning experience with friends while learning was still happening.” In her learning experience with building model boats, dNice described “It was fun because I got to make something and then share it with my friends. It was also fun because I got to work with my dad.” Dav Lin described her learning experience of riding a bike as fun because “My dad and my mom were there.” Supermom described her experience creating a commercial for a Spanish class as fun since she was “working with my friend, doing it at home, acting, and then showing the finished product.” All these experiences involve physical activities or projects that were collaborative and involved interaction with others.
 * 2. Respondents reported that interacting with others and sharing experiences made a learning experience “fun.” ** Thirteen respondents reported that they enjoyed interacting with others and learning from other learners and classmates. Kc reported that her experience was fun because she “Learn[ed] about new things [and] Debat[ed] with other people about several ideas about society.” In regards to her French lessons, RC reported “The interaction with others was fun, and learning from each other's mispronunciations or bad translations.” Krest identified her climbing class experience as fun because “There was a social aspect of sharing what you were learning with others.” Rock Monster’s fun experience involved a wine class in which “We got to interact with each other and share what we each thought of the wine.” These generalizations share the common theme of interacting with others, but also sharing experiences and learning from each other to gain a richer understanding about the topic.
 * 3. Respondents with higher education levels reported that experiences that involved multiple senses were “fun.” ** For example, Kaka reported that her experience was fun because “The teacher called me to test the "blind spot" in hearing. I had to point where the sound was coming from at different angles behind my sight.” This experience illustrates how sound and auditory senses were used to teach a particular concept. Freaky Frog reported learning “through interactive and inspiring lessons. This particular situation allowed each of the students to interact and challenge one another by seeing and tasting the French dish they had prepared.” Her experience used taste and vision to enhance the learning experience. Rosie stated that she got to use touch in her Art History class which made it “fun.” She stated, “I liked that the instructor incorporated the use of slides to show art and also bring in artifacts for us to touch.” Happily Mixed also reported that the high school Anatomy Class was fun because “not only did my teacher turn this learning experience into a game, but we had to use other senses in order to figure out which bone it was.” Rock Monster also reported that in his wine class, “The instructor talked about a certain type of wine and described the parts of the world it was made and we would taste and smell the wine from that part of the world.” In all these accounts, the learners got to use different senses such as taste, smell, sound or touch to enhance what their learning experience. Of the 17 respondents who reported experiences that involved different senses, all but one received at least an undergraduate degree or vocational degree.
 * 4. Respondents reported that physical movement and activity made an experience “fun.” ** Dancing Queen reported that her dance class was fun because “The instructor was trained and Brazilian and demonstrated and verbally explained briefly and then you were expected to follow. This was fun because it involved music and dancing.” Wen Dog reported that his experience was fun because “I feel that interaction is key as well as movement and playing with the item not just hearing about it.” Jake 11 also commented that a Physical Education class was fun because “The teacher would walk around and make sure we got the moves and help us individually or show us herself.” Bobby also reported his experience at a botany museum as fun because it was “Outdoor, real-life setting, physical activity, mixture of both social and learning interactions, provided vivid, living examples of plants that we otherwise would have had merely to memorize.” All these responses show how learning experiences can involve physical activity and movement to engage learners. Many of the responses in this category related to learning experiences involving exercise, sports or physical activities.
 * 5. Respondents reported that being able to be creative made an experience “fun.” ** A total of 23 respondents, ages 12 to 58, reported that creativity, thinking critically, and/or being challenged was a component to their fun experience. For example, Roma Ragu reported her economics class was fun because “It allowed us to think outside the box and be creative. We could mix and mingle with other students and get their input on our projects.” JJ stated that her class was fun because “There was interaction with the instructor, and challenging puzzles to solve that required creativity.” Freaky Frog enjoyed her French class because “I was encouraged to be creative. My creativity was rewarded. I retained what I learned.” Joel R’s experience involving learning about frogs was fun because “We got to arrange the frog into any position, so long as the bones were properly located. We also had to create an environment for the frog.” In these accounts, the learners were encouraged to think creatively and were challenged to find the answer on their own or by interacting with others. Many learners enjoyed the path of self-discovery rather than being lectured to on a subject.
 * 6. Respondents reported that experiences that were relevant to their lives, based on real world experiences, or involved topics that were personally interesting to them made the experience “fun.” ** For example, Cheese described her experience with learning about change organization as fun because it was “based on real live organizational events and we worked with actual employees of that organization. The outcome was very practical and realistic.” Marie described her experience at a first grade conference as fun because “it was something that I could use in everyday life and I was excited about learning.” Emma Z described her Greek Mythology class as fun, stating “I was interested in the material and really enjoyed his style of teaching.” Patton O’s fun experience involved learning about a baseball stadium which was fun because “The subject matter was very interesting.” Twenty-two responses included some component about how the subject matter was interesting and relevant to the learner. Responses in this category included males and females between the ages of 12 and 50 with varying education.
 * 7. Respondents reported that their instructors had good attitudes, were engaging, and/or were knowledgeable about the subject matter which made the experience “fun.” ** There were 55 responses from males and females ages 8 to 86 that involved comments about good instructors making an experience fun. Astrologer Tany commented her experience was fun because her instructor’s “intelligence, critical thinking, and fantastic sense of humor.” Yoders also reported that “It was the attitude of the instructor, the sense of adventure and accomplishment, the opportunity to realize a dream, and the camaraderie of working with my classmates that made that first night in the pool so much fun.” Deb S reported on her church experience as fun because “We did have a very gregarious instructor that made learning fun and interesting.” Angie W also reported, "The instructor made it fun to learn the 50 states and interactive by making it into a performance.” Responses included that instructors who used humor, engaged learners, used personal experiences, or who were interested and excited about the subject matter made the experience fun.

Implications
The data presents a wide array of responses from a variety of learners who range in age, gender and education. My analysis describes generalizations about elements that make learning experiences fun and elements that make learning experiences boring. By using these generalizations, I can improve my design and teaching by avoiding elements that make experiences boring and by incorporating elements that make experiences fun. In my future teaching and design, I will use a variety of instruction styles and techniques to reach different learners. I can add games, simulations and demonstrations to teach concepts and add a dimension to the learning experience. I can use multi-media to provide learners with a variety of tools to interact with such as slides, objects and artifacts which stimulate different senses. This type of instruction will help reach visual, tactile and auditory learners. By incorporating a variety of tools and learning techniques into the instruction, it is more likely the learner will have a positive experience and learn while having fun. By using many elements rather than just one or two, it is more likely that the whole audience will find something about the experience to be fun. My analysis also revealed that it is important to allow learners to move around whether it is going somewhere on a field trip or just getting up to interact with objects or learners. In the future, to make the learning experience engaging, I will incorporate activities or discussions that encourage movement and interaction with other learners, the instructor, and objects or artifacts. The data shows that making an experience interesting, relevant, and applicable to the real-world is an important factor to making a learning experience fun. By asking learners for their expectations prior to the learning event and incorporating their answers into the learning, I can make the experience relevant and interesting. Since some respondents reported feeling the experience was a waste of time because they already knew the subject, I can also pre-test learners prior to the learning experience to determine current knowledge and ensure the same material is not repeated. One of the most important implications I see from the responses is that the instructor plays a fundamental role in whether an experience is boring or fun. In many responses, even if the topic was interesting or there were planned activities, if the instructor was not engaging, interested in the topic, or if he or she was critical of learners, respondents perceived the experience to be boring and came away with a negative attitude. As an instructor, it is important to always be at my best, be open to feedback, be approachable and engage learners. It is important to interact with and engage learners by allowing them to share their experiences and insights.